Handheld electronic device and associated method employing a multiple-axis input device and learning a context of a text input for use by a disambiguation routine

ABSTRACT

A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with disambiguation software that is operable to disambiguate text input. In addition to identifying and outputting representations of language objects that are stored in the memory and that correspond with a text input, the device is able to employ contextual data in certain circumstances to prioritize output and to learn new contextual data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/831,449, filed Jul. 31, 2007, which claims priority from and claimsthe benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/399,271 filed Apr. 6,2006, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheldelectronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronicdevice having a reduced keyboard and a text input disambiguationfunction that can employ contextual data.

2. Background Information

Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples ofsuch handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal dataassistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellulartelephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also featurewireless communication capability, although many such handheldelectronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional withoutcommunication with other devices.

Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable,and thus are of a relatively compact configuration in which keys andother input structures often perform multiple functions under certaincircumstances or may otherwise have multiple aspects or featuresassigned thereto. With advances in technology, handheld electronicdevices are built to have progressively smaller form factors yet haveprogressively greater numbers of applications and features residentthereon. As a practical matter, the keys of a keypad can only be reducedto a certain small size before the keys become relatively unusable. Inorder to enable text entry, however, a keypad must be capable ofentering all twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet, for instance, aswell as appropriate punctuation and other symbols.

One way of providing numerous letters in a small space has been toprovide a “reduced keyboard” in which multiple letters, symbols, and/ordigits, and the like, are assigned to any given key. For example, atouch-tone telephone includes a reduced keypad by providing twelve keys,of which ten have digits thereon, and of these ten keys, eight haveLatin letters assigned thereto. For instance, one of the keys includesthe digit “2” as well as the letters “A”, “B”, and “C”. Other knownreduced keyboards have included other arrangements of keys, letters,symbols, digits, and the like. Since a single actuation of such a keypotentially could be intended by the user to refer to any of the letters“A”, “B”, and “C”, and potentially could also be intended to refer tothe digit “2”, the input generally is an ambiguous input and is in needof some type of disambiguation in order to be useful for text entrypurposes.

In order to enable a user to make use of the multiple letters, digits,and the like on any given key, numerous keystroke interpretation systemshave been provided. For instance, a “multi-tap” system allows a user tosubstantially unambiguously specify a particular character on a key bypressing the same key a number of times equivalent to the position ofthe desired character on the key. Another exemplary keystrokeinterpretation system would include key chording, of which various typesexist. For instance, a particular character can be entered by pressingtwo keys in succession or by pressing and holding a first key whilepressing a second key. Still another exemplary keystroke interpretationsystem would be a “press-and-hold/press-and-release” interpretationfunction in which a given key provides a first result if the key ispressed and immediately released, and provides a second result if thekey is pressed and held for a short period of time. Another keystrokeinterpretation system that has been employed is a software-based textdisambiguation function. In such a system, a user typically presses keysto which one or more characters have been assigned, generally pressingeach key one time for each desired letter, and the disambiguationsoftware attempts to predict the intended input. Numerous such systemshave been proposed, and while many have been generally effective fortheir intended purposes, shortcomings still exist.

It would be desirable to provide an improved handheld electronic devicewith a reduced keyboard that seeks to mimic a QWERTY keyboard experienceor other particular keyboard experience. Such an improved handheldelectronic device might also desirably be configured with enoughfeatures to enable text entry and other tasks with relative ease.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full understanding of the disclosed and claimed concept can be gainedfrom the following Description when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with the disclosed and claimed concept;

FIG. 2 is a schematic depiction of the improved handheld electronicdevice of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a schematic depiction of a portion of the handheld electronicdevice of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are an exemplary flowchart depicting certainaspects of a disambiguation function that can be executed on thehandheld electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is another exemplary flowchart depicting certain aspects of alearning method that can be executed on the handheld electronic device;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary output during a text entry operation;

FIG. 6 is another exemplary output during another part of the text entryoperation;

FIG. 7 is another exemplary output during another part of the text entryoperation;

FIG. 8 is another exemplary output during another part of the text entryoperation;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart depicting the use of context dataduring a text entry operation;

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with another embodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept;

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary menu that can be output on the handheldelectronic device of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 depicts another exemplary menu;

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary reduced menu;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary output such as could occur during a text entryor text editing operation;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary output during a text entry operation;

FIG. 16 is an alternative exemplary output during a text entryoperation;

FIG. 17 is another exemplary output during a part of a text entryoperation;

FIG. 18 is an exemplary output during a data entry operation;

FIG. 19 is a top plan view of an improved handheld electronic device inaccordance with still another embodiment of the disclosed and claimedconcept; and

FIG. 20 is a schematic depiction of the improved handheld electronicdevice of FIG. 19.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.

DESCRIPTION

An improved handheld electronic device 4 is indicated generally in FIG.1 and is depicted schematically in FIG. 2. The exemplary handheldelectronic device 4 includes a housing 6 upon which is disposed aprocessor unit that includes an input apparatus 8, an output apparatus12, a processor 16, a memory 20, and at least a first routine. Theprocessor 16 may be, for instance, and without limitation, amicroprocessor (.mu.P) and is responsive to inputs from the inputapparatus 8 and provides output signals to the output apparatus 12. Theprocessor 16 also interfaces with the memory 20. The processor 16 andthe memory 20 together form a processor apparatus. Examples of handheldelectronic devices are included in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,452,588 and6,489,950, which are incorporated by reference herein.

As can be understood from FIG. 1, the input apparatus 8 includes akeypad 24 and a thumbwheel 32. As will be described in greater detailbelow, the keypad 24 is in the exemplary form of a reduced QWERTYkeyboard including a plurality of keys 28 that serve as input members.It is noted, however, that the keypad 24 may be of other configurations,such as an AZERTY keyboard, a QWERTZ keyboard, or other keyboardarrangement, whether presently known or unknown, and either reduced ornot reduced. As employed herein, the expression “reduced” and variationsthereof in the context of a keyboard, a keypad, or other arrangement ofinput members, shall refer broadly to an arrangement in which at leastone of the input members has assigned thereto a plurality of linguisticelements such as, for example, characters in the set of Latin letters,whereby an actuation of the at least one of the input members, withoutanother input in combination therewith, is an ambiguous input since itcould refer to more than one of the plurality of linguistic elementsassigned thereto. As employed herein, the expression “linguisticelement” and variations thereof shall refer broadly to any element thatitself can be a language object or from which a language object can beconstructed, identified, or otherwise obtained, and thus would include,for example and without limitation, characters, letters, strokes,ideograms, phonemes, morphemes, digits, and the like. As employedherein, the expression “language object” and variations thereof shallrefer broadly to any type of object that may be constructed, identified,or otherwise obtained from one or more linguistic elements, that can beused alone or in combination to generate text, and that would include,for example and without limitation, words, shortcuts, symbols,ideograms, and the like.

The system architecture of the handheld electronic device 4advantageously is organized to be operable independent of the specificlayout of the keypad 24. Accordingly, the system architecture of thehandheld electronic device 4 can be employed in conjunction withvirtually any keypad layout substantially without requiring anymeaningful change in the system architecture. It is further noted thatcertain of the features set forth herein are usable on either or both ofa reduced keyboard and a non-reduced keyboard.

The keys 28 are disposed on a front face of the housing 6, and thethumbwheel 32 is disposed at a side of the housing 6. The thumbwheel 32can serve as another input member and is both rotatable, as is indicatedby the arrow 34, to provide selection inputs to the processor 16, andalso can be pressed in a direction generally toward the housing 6, as isindicated by the arrow 38, to provide another selection input to theprocessor 16.

As can further be seen in FIG. 1, many of the keys 28 include a numberof linguistic elements 48 disposed thereon. As employed herein, theexpression “a number of” and variations thereof shall refer broadly toany quantity, including a quantity of one. In the exemplary depiction ofthe keypad 24, many of the keys 28 include two linguistic elements, suchas including a first linguistic element 52 and a second linguisticelement 56 assigned thereto.

One of the keys 28 of the keypad 24 includes as the characters 48thereof the letters “Q” and “W”, and an adjacent key 28 includes as thecharacters 48 thereof the letters “E” and “R”. It can be seen that thearrangement of the characters 48 on the keys 28 of the keypad 24 isgenerally of a QWERTY arrangement, albeit with many of the keys 28including two of the characters 48.

The output apparatus 12 includes a display 60 upon which can be providedan output 64. An exemplary output 64 is depicted on the display 60 inFIG. 1. The output 64 includes a text component 68 and a variantcomponent 72. The variant component 72 includes a default portion 76 anda variant portion 80. The display 60 also includes a caret 84 thatdepicts generally where the next input from the input apparatus 8 willbe received.

The text component 68 of the output 64 provides a depiction of thedefault portion 76 of the output 64 at a location on the display 60where the text is being input. The variant component 72 is disposedgenerally in the vicinity of the text component 68 and provides, inaddition to the default proposed output 76, a depiction of the variousalternate text choices, i.e., alternates to the default proposed output76, that are proposed by an input disambiguation function in response toan input sequence of key actuations of the keys 28.

As will be described in greater detail below, the default portion 76 isproposed by the disambiguation function as being the most likelydisambiguated interpretation of the ambiguous input provided by theuser. The variant portion 80 includes a predetermined quantity ofalternate proposed interpretations of the same ambiguous input fromwhich the user can select, if desired. It is noted that the exemplaryvariant portion 80 is depicted herein as extending vertically below thedefault portion 76, but it is understood that numerous otherarrangements could be provided.

The memory 20 is depicted schematically in FIG. 2A. The memory 20 can beany of a variety of types of internal and/or external storage media suchas, without limitation, RAM, ROM, EPROM(s), EEPROM(s), and the like thatprovide a storage register for data storage such as in the fashion of aninternal storage area of a computer, and can be volatile memory ornonvolatile memory. The memory 20 additionally includes a number ofroutines depicted generally with the numeral 22 for the processing ofdata. The routines 22 can be in any of a variety of forms such as,without limitation, software, firmware, and the like. As will beexplained in greater detail below, the routines 22 include theaforementioned disambiguation function as an application, as well asother routines.

As can be understood from FIG. 2A, the memory 20 additionally includesdata stored and/or organized in a number of tables, sets, lists, and/orotherwise. Specifically, the memory 20 includes a generic word list 88,a new words database 92, another data source 99 and a contextual datatable 49.

Stored within the various areas of the memory 20 are a number oflanguage objects 100 and frequency objects 104. The language objects 100generally are each associated with an associated frequency object 104.The language objects 100 include, in the present exemplary embodiment, aplurality of word objects 108 and a plurality of N-gram objects 112. Theword objects 108 are generally representative of complete words withinthe language or custom words stored in the memory 20. For instance, ifthe language stored in the memory 20 is, for example, English, generallyeach word object 108 would represent a word in the English language orwould represent a custom word.

Associated with substantially each word object 108 is a frequency object104 having a frequency value that is indicative of the relativefrequency within the relevant language of the given word represented bythe word object 108. In this regard, the generic word list 88 includes aplurality of word objects 108 and associated frequency objects 104 thattogether are representative of a wide variety of words and theirrelative frequency within a given vernacular of, for instance, a givenlanguage. The generic word list 88 can be derived in any of a widevariety of fashions, such as by analyzing numerous texts and otherlanguage sources to determine the various words within the languagesources as well as their relative probabilities, i.e., relativefrequencies, of occurrences of the various words within the languagesources.

The N-gram objects 112 stored within the generic word list 88 are shortstrings of characters within the relevant language typically, forexample, one to three characters in length, and typically represent wordfragments within the relevant language, although certain of the N-gramobjects 112 additionally can themselves be words. However, to the extentthat an N-gram object 112 also is a word within the relevant language,the same word likely would be separately stored as a word object 108within the generic word list 88. As employed herein, the expression“string” and variations thereof shall refer broadly to an object havingone or more characters or components, and can refer to any of a completeword, a fragment of a word, a custom word or expression, and the like.

In the present exemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4,the N-gram objects 112 include 1-gram objects, i.e., string objects thatare one character in length, 2-gram objects, i.e., string objects thatare two characters in length, and 3-gram objects, i.e., string objectsthat are three characters in length, all of which are collectivelyreferred to as N-gram objects 112. Substantially each N-gram object 112in the generic word list 88 is similarly associated with an associatedfrequency object 104 stored within the generic word list 88, but thefrequency object 104 associated with a given N-gram object 112 has afrequency value that indicates the relative probability that thecharacter string represented by the particular N-gram object 112 existsat any location within any word of the relevant language. The N-gramobjects 112 and the associated frequency objects 104 are a part of thecorpus of the generic word list 88 and are obtained in a fashion similarto the way in which the word object 108 and the associated frequencyobjects 104 are obtained, although the analysis performed in obtainingthe N-gram objects 112 will be slightly different because it willinvolve analysis of the various character strings within the variouswords instead of relying primarily on the relative occurrence of a givenword.

The present exemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4,with its exemplary language being the English language, includestwenty-six 1-gram N-gram objects 112, i.e., one 1-gram object for eachof the twenty-six letters in the Latin alphabet upon which the Englishlanguage is based, and further includes 676 2-gram N-gram objects 112,i.e., twenty-six squared, representing each two-letter permutation ofthe twenty-six letters within the Latin alphabet.

The N-gram objects 112 also include a certain quantity of 3-gram N-gramobjects 112, primarily those that have a relatively high frequencywithin the relevant language. The exemplary embodiment of the handheldelectronic device 4 includes fewer than all of the three-letterpermutations of the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet due toconsiderations of data storage size, and also because the 2-gram N-gramobjects 112 can already provide a meaningful amount of informationregarding the relevant language. As will be set forth in greater detailbelow, the N-gram objects 112 and their associated frequency objects 104provide frequency data that can be attributed to character strings forwhich a corresponding word object 108 cannot be identified or has notbeen identified, and typically is employed as a fallback data source,although this need not be exclusively the case.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the language objects 100 and thefrequency objects 104 are maintained substantially inviolate in thegeneric word list 88, meaning that the basic language dictionary remainssubstantially unaltered within the generic word list 88, and thelearning functions that are provided by the handheld electronic device 4and that are described below operate in conjunction with other objectsthat are generally stored elsewhere in memory 20, such as, for example,in the new words database 92.

The new words database 92 stores additional word objects 108 andassociated frequency objects 104 in order to provide to a user acustomized experience in which words and the like that are usedrelatively more frequently by a user will be associated with relativelyhigher frequency values than might otherwise be reflected in the genericword list 88. More particularly, the new words database 92 includes wordobjects 108 that are user-defined and that generally are not found amongthe word objects 108 of the generic word list 88. Each word object 108in the new words database 92 has associated therewith an associatedfrequency object 104 that is also stored in the new words database 92.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C depict in an exemplary fashion the generaloperation of certain aspects of the disambiguation function of thehandheld electronic device 4. Additional features, functions, and thelike are depicted and described elsewhere.

An input is detected, as at 204, and the input can be any type ofactuation or other operation as to any portion of the input apparatus 8.A typical input would include, for instance, an actuation of a key 28having a number of characters 48 thereon, or any other type of actuationor manipulation of the input apparatus 8.

The disambiguation function then determines, as at 212, whether thecurrent input is an operational input, such as a selection input, adelimiter input, a movement input, an alternation input, or, forinstance, any other input that does not constitute an actuation of a key28 having a number of characters 48 thereon. If the input is determinedat 212 to not be an operational input, processing continues at 216 byadding the input to the current input sequence which may or may notalready include an input.

Many of the inputs detected at 204 are employed in generating inputsequences as to which the disambiguation function will be executed. Aninput sequence is built up in each “session” with each actuation of akey 28 having a number of characters 48 thereon. Since an input sequencetypically will be made up of at least one actuation of a key 28 having aplurality of characters 48 thereon, the input sequence will beambiguous. When a word, for example, is completed, the current sessionis ended and a new session is initiated.

An input sequence is gradually built up on the handheld electronicdevice 4 with each successive actuation of a key 28 during any givensession. Specifically, once a delimiter input is detected during anygiven session, the session is terminated and a new session is initiated.Each input resulting from an actuation of one of the keys 28 having anumber of the characters 48 associated therewith is sequentially addedto the current input sequence. As the input sequence grows during agiven session, the disambiguation function generally is executed witheach actuation of a key 28, i.e., an input, and as to the entire inputsequence. Stated otherwise, within a given session, the growing inputsequence is attempted to be disambiguated as a unit by thedisambiguation function with each successive actuation of the variouskeys 28.

Once a current input representing a most recent actuation of the one ofthe keys 28 having a number of the characters 48 assigned thereto hasbeen added to the current input sequence within the current session, asat 216 in FIG. 3A, the disambiguation function generates, as at 220,substantially all of the permutations of the characters 48 assigned tothe various keys 28 that were actuated in generating the input sequence.In this regard, the “permutations” refer to the various strings that canresult from the characters 48 of each actuated key 28 limited by theorder in which the keys 28 were actuated. The various permutations ofthe characters 48 in the input sequence are employed as prefix objects.

For instance, if the current input sequence within the current sessionis the ambiguous input of the keys “AS” and “OP”, the variouspermutations of the first character 52 and the second character 56 ofeach of the two keys 28, when considered in the sequence in which thekeys 28 were actuated, would be “SO”, “SP”, “AP”, and “AO”, and each ofthese is a prefix object that is generated, as at 220, with respect tothe current input sequence. As will be explained in greater detailbelow, the disambiguation function seeks to identify for each prefixobject one of the word objects 108 for which the prefix object would bea prefix.

For each generated prefix object, the memory 20 is consulted, as at 224,to identify, if possible, for each prefix object one of the word objects108 in the memory 20 that corresponds with the prefix object, meaningthat the sequence of letters represented by the prefix object would beeither a prefix of the identified word object 108 or would besubstantially identical to the entirety of the word object 108. Furtherin this regard, the word object 108 that is sought to be identified isthe highest frequency word object 108. That is, the disambiguationfunction seeks to identify the word object 108 that corresponds with theprefix object and that also is associated with a frequency object 104having a relatively higher frequency value than any of the otherfrequency objects 104 associated with the other word objects 108 thatcorrespond with the prefix object.

It is noted in this regard that the word objects 108 in the generic wordlist 88 are generally organized in data tables that correspond with thefirst two letters of various words. For instance, the data tableassociated with the prefix “CO” would include all of the words such as“CODE”, “COIN”, “COMMUNICATION”, and the like. Depending upon thequantity of word objects 108 within any given data table, the data tablemay additionally include sub-data tables within which word objects 108are organized by prefixes that are three characters or more in length.Continuing onward with the foregoing example, if the “CO” data tableincluded, for instance, more than 256 word objects 108, the “CO” datatable would additionally include one or more sub-data tables of wordobjects 108 corresponding with the most frequently appearingthree-letter prefixes. By way of example, therefore, the “CO” data tablemay also include a “COM” sub-data table and a “CON” sub-data table. If asub-data table includes more than the predetermined number of wordobjects 108, for example a quantity of 256, the sub-data table mayinclude further sub-data tables, such as might be organized according tofour-letter prefixes. It is noted that the aforementioned quantity of256 of the word objects 108 corresponds with the greatest numericalvalue that can be stored within one byte of the memory 20.

Accordingly, when, at 224, each prefix object is sought to be used toidentify a corresponding word object 108, and for instance the instantprefix object is “AP”, the “AP” data table will be consulted. Since allof the word objects 108 in the “AP” data table will correspond with theprefix object “AP”, the word object 108 in the “AP” data table withwhich is associated a frequency object 104 having a frequency valuerelatively higher than any of the other frequency objects 104 in the“AP” data table is identified. The identified word object 108 and theassociated frequency object 104 are then stored in a result registerthat serves as a result of the various comparisons of the generatedprefix objects with the contents of the memory 20.

It is noted that one or more, or possibly all, of the prefix objectswill be prefix objects for which a corresponding word object 108 is notidentified in the memory 20. Such prefix objects are considered to beorphan prefix objects and are separately stored or are otherwiseretained for possible future use. In this regard, it is noted that manyor all of the prefix objects can become orphan objects if, for instance,the user is trying to enter a new word or, for example, if the user hasmis-keyed and no word corresponds with the mis-keyed input.

Processing continues, as at 232, where duplicate word objects 108associated with relatively lower frequency values are deleted from theresult. Such a duplicate word object 108 could be generated, forinstance, by the other data source 99.

Once the duplicate word objects 108 and the associated frequency objects104 have been removed at 232, processing branches, as at 234, to asubsystem in FIG. 9, described below, wherein the need to examinecontext data is evaluated. Once context data is evaluated, as in FIG. 9,processing returns to 236, as in FIG. 3C, wherein the remaining prefixobjects are arranged in an output set in decreasing order of frequencyvalue.

If it is determined, as at 240, that the flag has been set, meaning thata user has made a selection input, either through an express selectioninput or through an alternation input of a movement input, then thedefault output 76 is considered to be “locked,” meaning that theselected variant will be the default prefix until the end of thesession. If it is determined at 240 that the flag has been set, theprocessing will proceed to 244 where the contents of the output set willbe altered, if needed, to provide as the default output 76 an outputthat includes the selected prefix object, whether it corresponds with aword object 108 or is an artificial variant. In this regard, it isunderstood that the flag can be set additional times during a session,in which case the selected prefix associated with resetting of the flagthereafter becomes the “locked” default output 76 until the end of thesession or until another selection input is detected.

Processing then continues, as at 248, to an output step after which anoutput 64 is generated as described above. Processing thereaftercontinues at 204 where additional input is detected. On the other hand,if it is determined at 240 that the flag has not been set, thenprocessing goes directly to 248 without the alteration of the contentsof the output set at 244.

If the detected input is determined, as at 212, to be an operationalinput, processing then continues to determine the specific nature of theoperational input. For instance, if it is determined, as at 252, thatthe current input is a selection input, processing continues at 254where the flag is set. Processing then returns to detection ofadditional inputs as at 204.

If it is determined, as at 260, that the input is a delimiter input,processing continues at 264 where the current session is terminated andprocessing is transferred, as at 266, to the learning functionsubsystem, as at 404 of FIG. 4. A delimiter input would include, forexample, the actuation of a <SPACE> key 116, which would both enter adelimiter symbol and would add a space at the end of the word, actuationof the <ENTER> key, which might similarly enter a delimiter input andenter a space, and by a translation of the thumbwheel 32, such as isindicated by the arrow 38, which might enter a delimiter input withoutadditionally entering a space.

It is first determined, as at 408, whether the default output at thetime of the detection of the delimiter input at 260 matches a wordobject 108 in the memory 20. If it does not, this means that the defaultoutput is a user-created output that should be added to the new wordsdatabase 92 for future use. In such a circumstance processing thenproceeds to 412 where the default output is stored in the new wordsdatabase 92 as a new word object 108. Additionally, a frequency object104 is stored in the new words database 92 and is associated with theaforementioned new word object 108. The new frequency object 104 isgiven a relatively high frequency value, typically within the upperone-fourth or one-third of a predetermined range of possible frequencyvalues.

In this regard, frequency objects 104 are given an absolute frequencyvalue generally in the range of zero to 65,535. The maximum valuerepresents the largest number that can be stored within two bytes of thememory 20. The new frequency object 104 that is stored in the new wordsdatabase 92 is assigned an absolute frequency value within the upperone-fourth or one-third of this range, particularly since the new wordwas used by a user and is likely to be used again.

With further regard to frequency object 104, it is noted that within agiven data table, such as the “CO” data table mentioned above, theabsolute frequency value is stored only for the frequency object 104having the highest frequency value within the data table. All of theother frequency objects 104 in the same data table have frequency valuesstored as percentage values normalized to the aforementioned maximumabsolute frequency value. That is, after identification of the frequencyobject 104 having the highest frequency value within a given data table,all of the other frequency objects 104 in the same data table areassigned a percentage of the absolute maximum value, which representsthe ratio of the relatively smaller absolute frequency value of aparticular frequency object 104 to the absolute frequency value of theaforementioned highest value frequency object 104. Advantageously, suchpercentage values can be stored within a single byte of memory 20, thussaving storage space within the handheld electronic device 4.

Upon creation of the new word object 108 and the new frequency object104, and storage thereof within the new words database 92, processing istransferred to 420 where the learning process is terminated. Processingis then returned to the main process, as at 204. If at 408 it isdetermined that the word object 108 in the default output 76 matches aword object 108 within the memory 20, processing is returned directly tothe main process at 204.

With further regard to the identification of various word objects 108for correspondence with generated prefix objects, it is noted that thememory 20 can include a number of additional data sources 99 in additionto the generic word list 88 and the new words database 92, all of whichcan be considered linguistic sources. It is understood that the memory20 might include any number of other data sources 99. The other datasources 99 might include, for example, an address database, a speed-textdatabase, or any other data source without limitation. An exemplaryspeed-text database might include, for example, sets of words orexpressions or other data that are each associated with, for example, acharacter string that may be abbreviated. For example, a speed-textdatabase might associate the string “br” with the set of words “BestRegards”, with the intention that a user can type the string “br” andreceive the output “Best Regards”.

In seeking to identify word objects 108 that correspond with a givenprefix object, the handheld electronic device 4 may poll all of the datasources in the memory 20. For instance the handheld electronic device 4may poll the generic word list 88, the new words database 92, and theother data sources 99 to identify word objects 108 that correspond withthe prefix object. The contents of the other data sources 99 may betreated as word objects 108, and the processor 16 may generate frequencyobjects 104 that will be associated with such word objects 108 and towhich may be assigned a frequency value in, for example, the upperone-third or one-fourth of the aforementioned frequency range. Assumingthat the assigned frequency value is sufficiently high, the string “br”,for example, would typically be output to the display 60. If a delimiterinput is detected with respect to the portion of the output having theassociation with the word object 108 in the speed-text database, forinstance “br”, the user would receive the output “Best Regards”, itbeing understood that the user might also have entered a selection inputas to the exemplary string “br”.

The contents of any of the other data sources 99 may be treated as wordobjects 108 and may be associated with generated frequency objects 104having the assigned frequency value in the aforementioned upper portionof the frequency range. After such word objects 108 are identified, thenew word learning function can, if appropriate, act upon such wordobjects 108 in the fashion set forth above.

If it is determined, such as at 268, that the current input is amovement input, such as would be employed when a user is seeking to editan object, either a completed word or a prefix object within the currentsession, the caret 84 is moved, as at 272, to the desired location, andthe flag is set, as at 276. Processing then returns to where additionalinputs can be detected, as at 204.

In this regard, it is understood that various types of movement inputscan be detected from the input apparatus 8. For instance, a rotation ofthe thumbwheel 32, such as is indicated by the arrow 34 of FIG. 1, couldprovide a movement input. In the instance where such a movement input isdetected, such as in the circumstance of an editing input, the movementinput is additionally detected as a selection input. Accordingly, and asis the case with a selection input such as is detected at 252, theselected variant is effectively locked with respect to the defaultportion 76 of the output 64. Any default output 76 during the samesession will necessarily include the previously selected variant.

In the present exemplary embodiment of the handheld electronic device 4,if it is determined, as at 252, that the input is not a selection input,and it is determined, as at 260, that the input is not a delimiterinput, and it is further determined, as at 268, that the input is not amovement input, in the current exemplary embodiment of the handheldelectronic device 4, the only remaining operational input generally is adetection of the <DELETE> key 86 of the keys 28 of the keypad 24. Upondetection of the <DELETE> key 86, the final character of the defaultoutput is deleted, as at 280. Processing thereafter returns to 204 whereadditional input can be detected.

An exemplary input sequence is depicted in FIGS. 1 and 5-8. In thisexample, the user is attempting to enter the word “APPLOADER”, and thisword presently is not stored in the memory 20. In FIG. 1 the user hasalready typed the “AS” key 28. Since the data tables in the memory 20are organized according to two-letter prefixes, the contents of theoutput 64 upon the first keystroke are obtained from the N-gram objects112 within the memory 20. The first keystroke “AS” corresponds with afirst N-gram object 112 “S” and an associated frequency object 104, aswell as another N-gram object 112 “A” and an associated frequency object104. While the frequency object 104 associated with “S” has a frequencyvalue greater than that of the frequency object 104 associated with “A”,it is noted that “A” is itself a complete word. A complete word isalways provided as the default output 76 in favor of other prefixobjects that do not match complete words, regardless of the associatedfrequency value. As such, in FIG. 1, the default portion 76 of theoutput 64 is “A”.

In FIG. 5, the user has additionally entered the “OP” key 28. Thevariants are depicted in FIG. 5. Since the prefix object “SO” is also aword, it is provided as the default output 76. In FIG. 6, the user hasagain entered the “OP” key 28 and has also entered the “L” key 28. It isnoted that the exemplary “L” key 28 depicted herein includes only thesingle character 48 “L”.

It is assumed in the instant example that no operational inputs havethus far been detected. The default output 76 is “APPL”, such as wouldcorrespond with the word “APPLE”. The prefix “APPL” is depicted both inthe text component 68, as well as in the default portion 76 of thevariant component 72. Variant prefix objects in the variant portion 80include “APOL”, such as would correspond with the word “APOLOGIZE”, andthe prefix “SPOL”, such as would correspond with the word “SPOLIATION”.

It is particularly noted that the additional variants “AOOL”, “AOPL”,“SOPL”, and “SOOL” are also depicted as variants 80 in the variantcomponent 72. Since no word object 108 corresponds with these prefixobjects, the prefix objects are considered to be orphan prefix objectsfor which a corresponding word object 108 was not identified. In thisregard, it may be desirable for the variant component 72 to include aspecific quantity of entries, and in the case of the instant exemplaryembodiment, the quantity is seven entries. Upon obtaining the result at224, if the quantity of prefix objects in the result is fewer than thepredetermined quantity, the disambiguation function will seek to provideadditional outputs until the predetermined number of outputs areprovided.

In FIG. 7 the user has additionally entered the “OP” key 28. In thiscircumstance, and as can be seen in FIG. 7, the default portion 76 ofthe output 64 has become the prefix object “APOLO” such as wouldcorrespond with the word “APOLOGIZE”, whereas immediately prior to thecurrent input the default portion 76 of the output 64 of FIG. 6 was“APPL” such as would correspond with the word “APPLE.” Again, assumingthat no operational inputs had been detected, the default prefix objectin FIG. 7 does not correspond with the previous default prefix object ofFIG. 6. As such, a first artificial variant “APOLP” is generated and inthe current example is given a preferred position. The aforementionedartificial variant “APOLP” is generated by deleting the final characterof the default prefix object “APOLO” and by supplying in its place anopposite character 48 of the key 28 which generated the final characterof the default portion 76 of the output 64, which in the current exampleof FIG. 7 is “P”, so that the aforementioned artificial variant is“APOLP”.

Furthermore, since the previous default output “APPL” corresponded witha word object 108, such as the word object 108 corresponding with theword “APPLE”, and since with the addition of the current input theprevious default output “APPL” no longer corresponds with a word object108, two additional artificial variants are generated. One artificialvariant is “APPLP” and the other artificial variant is “APPLO”, andthese correspond with the previous default output “APPL” plus thecharacters 48 of the key 28 that was actuated to generate the currentinput. These artificial variants are similarly output as part of thevariant portion 80 of the output 64.

As can be seen in FIG. 7, the default portion 76 of the output 64“APOLO” no longer seems to match what would be needed as a prefix for“APPLOADER”, and the user likely anticipates that the desired word“APPLOADER” is not already stored in the memory 20. As such, the userprovides a selection input, such as by scrolling with the thumbwheel 32until the variant string “APPLO” is highlighted. The user then continuestyping and enters the “AS” key 28.

The output 64 of such action is depicted in FIG. 8. Here, the string“APPLOA” is the default portion 76 of the output 64. Since the variantstring “APPLO” became the default portion 76 of the output 64 (notexpressly depicted herein) as a result of the selection input as to thevariant string “APPLO”, and since the variant string “APPLO” does notcorrespond with a word object 108, the character strings “APPLOA” and“APPLOS” were created as artificial variants. Additionally, since theprevious default of FIG. 7, “APOLO” previously had corresponded with aword object 108, but now is no longer in correspondence with the defaultportion 76 of the output 64 of FIG. 8, the additional artificialvariants of “APOLOA” and “APOLOS” were also generated. Such artificialvariants are given a preferred position in favor of the three displayedorphan prefix objects.

Since the current input sequence in the example no longer correspondswith any word object 108, the portions of the method related toattempting to find corresponding word objects 108 are not executed withfurther inputs for the current session. That is, since no word object108 corresponds with the current input sequence, further inputs willlikewise not correspond with any word object 108. Avoiding the search ofthe memory 20 for such nonexistent word objects 108 saves time andavoids wasted processing effort.

As the user continues to type, the user ultimately will successfullyenter the word “APPLOADER” and will enter a delimiter input. Upondetection of the delimiter input after the entry of “APPLOADER”, thelearning function is initiated. Since the word “APPLOADER” does notcorrespond with a word object 108 in the memory 20, a new word object108 corresponding with “APPLOADER” is generated and is stored in the newwords database 92, along with a corresponding new frequency object 104which is given an absolute frequency in the upper, say, one-third orone-fourth of the possible frequency range. In this regard, it is notedthat the new words database 92 is generally organized in two-characterprefix data tables similar to those found in the generic word list 88.As such, the new frequency object 104 is initially assigned an absolutefrequency value, but upon storage, the absolute frequency value, if itis not the maximum value within that data table, will be changed toinclude a normalized frequency value percentage normalized to whateveris the maximum frequency value within that data table.

It is noted that the layout of the characters 48 disposed on the keys 28in FIG. 1 is an exemplary character layout that would be employed wherethe intended primary language used on the handheld electronic device 4was, for instance, English. Other layouts involving these characters 48and/or other characters can be used depending upon the intended primarylanguage and any language bias in the makeup of the language objects100.

As mentioned elsewhere herein, a complete word that is identified duringa disambiguation cycle is always provided as a default output 76 infavor of other prefix objects that do not match complete words,regardless of the associated frequency value. That is, a word object 108corresponding with an ambiguous input and having a length equal to thatof the ambiguous input is output at a position of priority over otherprefix objects. As employed herein, the expression “length” andvariations thereof shall refer broadly to a quantity of elements ofwhich an object is comprised, such as the quantity of linguisticelements of which a language object 100 is comprised.

If more than one complete word is identified during a disambiguationcycle, all of the complete words may be output in order of decreasingfrequency with respect to one another, with each being at a position ofpriority over the prefix objects that are representative of incompletewords. However, it may be desirable in certain circumstances to employadditional data, if available, to prioritize the complete words in a waymore advantageous to the user.

The handheld electronic device 4 thus advantageously includes thecontextual data table 49 stored in the memory 20. The exemplarycontextual data table 49 can be said to have stored therein a number ofambiguous words and associated context data.

Specifically, the contextual data table 49 comprises a number of keyobjects 47 and, associated with each key object 47, a number ofassociated contextual value objects 51. In the present exemplaryembodiment in which the English language is employed on the handheldelectronic device 4, each key object 47 is a word object 108. That is, akey object 47 in the contextual data table 49 is also stored as a wordobject 108 in one of the generic word list 88, the new words database92, and the other data sources 99. Each key object 47 has associatedtherewith one or more contextual value objects 51 that are eachrepresentative of a particular contextual data element. If a key object47 is identified during a cycle of disambiguation with respect to anambiguous input, and if a contextual value object 51 associated with thekey object 47 coincides with a context of the ambiguous input, the wordobject 108 corresponding with the key object 47 is output as a defaultword output at the text component 68 and at the default portion 76 ofthe variant component 72. In other embodiments, however, it isunderstood that the key objects 47 could be in forms other than in theform of word objects 108.

The contents of the contextual data table 49 are obtained by analyzingthe language objects 100 and the data corpus from which the languageobjects 100 and frequency objects 104 were obtained. First, the languageobjects 100 are analyzed to identify ambiguous word objects 108. A setof ambiguous word objects 108 are representative of a plurality ofcomplete words which are each formed from the same ambiguous input suchas, for example, the words “TOP” and “TOO”, which are each formed fromthe ambiguous input <TY> <OP> <OP>. Each ambiguous word object 108 hasassociated therewith a frequency object 104. In a given set of ambiguousword objects 108, each ambiguous word object 108 with which isassociated a frequency object 104 having a frequency value less than thehighest in the set is a candidate key object 47. That is, in a given setof ambiguous word objects 108, all of the ambiguous word objects 108 arecandidate key objects 47, except for the ambiguous word object 108having associated therewith the frequency object 104 having therelatively highest frequency value in the set. This is because, as willbe explained in greater detail elsewhere herein, the anticipatedsituation in which context data is relevant during a text entry iswherein a plurality of ambiguous word objects 108 are identified in adisambiguation cycle, and a lower-frequency ambiguous word object 108 isdesirably output at a relatively preferred position because it would bea more appropriate solution in a particular context.

Once the candidate key objects 47 are identified, the data corpus isanalyzed to identify any valid contextual data for the candidate keyobjects 47. Valid contextual data is any particular context whereinoccurs any statistically significant incidence of a particular keyobject 47.

One exemplary context is that in which a particular ambiguous wordfollows, to a statistically significant extent, a particular word. Forinstance, and continuing the example above, it may be determined thatthe key word “TOP” occurs, to a statistically significant extent, afterthe context word “TABLE” and after the context word “HILL”. Dependingupon the configuration of the contextual data table 49, such a contextmight be limited to a particular word that immediately precedes aparticular ambiguous word, or it might include a particular word thatprecedes a particular ambiguous word by one, two, three, or more words.That is, the ambiguous key word “TOP” might occur to a statisticallysignificant extent when it immediately follows the context word “TABLE”,but the same ambiguous key word “TOP” might occur to a statisticallysignificant extent when it follows the context word “HILL” immediatelyor by two, three, or four words. In such a circumstance, the ambiguousword object 108 “TOP” would be stored as a key object 47, and the wordobjects 108 “TABLE” and “HILL” would be stored as two associatedcontextual value objects 51.

Another exemplary context is that in which a particular ambiguous wordis, to a statistically significant extent, a first word in a sentence.In such a situation, the identified context might be that in which theparticular ambiguous word follows, to a statistically significantextent, one or more particular punctuation marks such as the period “.”,the question mark “?”, and the exclamation point “!”. In such asituation, the contextual value object 51 would be the particularpunctuation symbol, with each such statistically significant punctuationsymbol being a separate contextual value object 51.

Still another exemplary context is that in which a particular ambiguousword follows, to a statistically significant extent, another entry thatis in a predetermined format. In such a situation, the identifiedcontext might, for example, be that in which the particular ambiguousword follows, to a statistically significant extent, an entry that has apredetermined arrangement of numeric components. For instance, anumerically indicated date might be indicated in any of the followingformats: NN/NN/NNNN or NN/NN/NN or N/NN/NNNN or N/NN/NN or N/N/NNNN orN/N/NN or other formats, wherein “N” refers to an Arabic digit, and “/”might refer to any of a particular symbol, a delimiter, or a “null” suchas a <SPACE> or nothing. As such, it might be determined that aparticular ambiguous word follows, to a statistically significantextent, another entry that is in any of one or more of the formatsNN/NN/NNNN or NN/NN/NN or N/NN/NNNN or N/NN/NN or N/N/NNNN or N/N/NN.Again, the particular ambiguous word might immediately follow theformatted entry or might follow two, three, or more words behind theformatted entry. In such a situation, the contextual value object 51would be a representation of the particular format, with each suchstatistically significant format being a separate contextual valueobject 51.

More specifically, the contextual value objects 51 can each be stored asa hash, i.e., an integer value that results from a mathematicalmanipulation. For instance, the two contextual value objects 51 “TABLE”and “HILL”, while being word objects 108, would be stored in thecontextual data table 49 as hashes of the words “TABLE” and “HILL”. Thekey objects 47, such as the word “TOP” can similarly each be stored as ahash.

The three contextual value objects 51 “.”, “?”, and “!” would each bestored as a hash, i.e., an integer value, that would be more in thenature of a flag, i.e., an integer value representative of a punctuationsymbol itself or being of a value that is different than the hash of anyof the twenty-six Latin letters. The contextual value objects 51 in thenature of predetermined formats could be similarly stored.

During text entry, the disambiguation system maintains in a temporarymemory register a hash of a number of the entries preceding the currentambiguous input. For instance, if the user is attempting to enter thephrase, “CLIMB THE HILL AND REACH THE TOP”, the disambiguation routine22 would have calculated and stored a hash of each of one or more of thewords “CLIMB”, “THE”, “HILL”, “AND”, “REACH”, and “THE” as entry values53 prior to the user entering the series of keystrokes <TY> <OP> <OP>,which would result in the ambiguous words “TOO” and “TOP”. The memory 20may be configured to store only a predetermined quantity of such entryvalues 53, which would be replaced on a first-in-first-out basis asadditional words are entered. For instance, if the memory 20 only storedthe last four entries as entry values 53, the four entry values inexistence at the time the user was entering the keystrokes for the word“TOP” would be hashes of the words “HILL”, “AND”, “REACH”, and “THE”. Inother systems, for example, the disambiguation routine 22 might store asan entry value only the one entry immediately preceding the currentinput.

Once the user enters the series of keystrokes <TY> <OP> <OP>, thedisambiguation routine 22 would determine that the two word objects 108“TOO” and “TOP” each correspond with and have a length equal to that ofthe series of keystrokes <TY> <OP> <OP>, and thus would determine thatthe two word objects 108 “TOO” and “TOP” represent ambiguous words. Ifit is assumed that the ambiguous word object 108 “TOO” has associatedtherewith a frequency object 104 having a frequency value higher thanthat of the frequency object 104 associated with the ambiguous wordobject 108 “TOP”, the disambiguation routine 22 will consult thecontextual data table 49 to determine whether the text already inputprovides a context wherein it would be appropriate to output the wordobject 108 “TOP” at a position of higher priority than the higherfrequency word object 108 “TOO”.

Specifically, the disambiguation routine 22 would look to see if thecontextual data table 49 has stored therein a key object 47 matching theword object 108 “TOP”. If such a key object 47 is found, the variouscontextual value objects 51 associated with the key object 47 “TOP” arecompared with each of the entry values 53 which, in the present example,would be hashes of the words “HILL”, “AND”, “REACH”, and “THE” todetermine whether or not any of the contextual value objects 51 coincidewith any of the entry values 53. As employed herein, the expression“coincide” and variations thereof shall refer broadly to any type ofpredetermined equivalence, correspondence, association, and the like,the existence of which can be ascertained between two or more objects.Since one of the contextual value objects 51 associated with the keyobject 47 “TOP” is a hash of the word object 108 “HILL”, and since oneof the entry values 53 is a hash of the previously entered word “HILL”,upon comparison the two hashes will be found to coincide on the basis ofbeing equal. As a result, the key object 47, i.e., the ambiguous wordobject 108, “TOP” will be output at a position of priority with respectto the ambiguous word object 108 “TOO” despite the ambiguous word object108 “TOO” being of a relatively higher frequency.

The disambiguation routine 22 would also store as entry values 53 hashesrepresentative of punctuation symbols and non-word entries for use incomparison with contextual value objects 51 in the same fashion. This isuseful when searching for contexts wherein the contextual value objects51 are representative of punctuation marks, predetermined formats, andthe like. For instance, if the predetermined format is a date formatsuch as suggested above, an associated key object 47 will be output at apreferred position if it is preceded by an entry in the form of a date.It is understood that numerous other types of predefined formats couldbe employed, such as other date formats like “Month date, year” or “dateMonth year”, time formats, and any other type of predetermined format ifdetermined to be a statistically significant context. It is alsounderstood that numerous other types of contexts could be identified,stored, and employed with the disambiguation routine 22 withoutdeparting from the present concept.

The present system is particularly advantageous due to its flexibility.It does not require the establishment of blanket “rules” forprioritization of words in contexts. Rather, each lesser-frequencyambiguous word has associated therewith statistically significantcontext data, which enables the handheld electronic device 4 to beadaptable and customizable to the needs of the user.

Briefly summarized, therefore, and depicted generally in FIG. 9 asbranching from the main process at 234 in FIG. 3A, the disambiguationroutine 22 determines, as at 604, whether or not at least two of theword objects 108 identified at 224 in FIG. 3A and stored in the resulteach have a length equal to that of the ambiguous input, and thus areambiguous word objects 108. If not, processing returns, as at 608, tothe main process at 236 in FIG. 3C. If it is determined at 604 that theresult includes at least two ambiguous word objects 108, processingcontinues to 612 where it is determined whether or not a key object 47corresponding with one of the ambiguous word objects 108 other than thehighest frequency word object 108 is stored in the contextual data table49. If not, processing returns, as at 608, to the main process at 236 inFIG. 3C.

If it is determined at 612 that a corresponding key object 47 exists,processing continues, as at 616, where the contextual value objects 51associated with the identified key object 47 are each compared with thestored entry values 53 to identify whether or not any key object 47 andany entry value 53 coincide. If none coincide, processing returns, as at608, to the main process at 236 in FIG. 3C. However, if it is determinedat 616 that a key object 47 and an entry value 53 coincide, then theword object 108 corresponding with the key object 47 is output, as at620, at a position of priority with respect to the highest-frequencyambiguous word object 108 identified at 604. Processing returns, as at608, to the main process at 236 in FIG. 3C.

The disambiguation routine 22 additionally is advantageously configuredto learn certain contextual data. Specifically, the disambiguationroutine 22 can identify the preceding-word type context data when a useron two separate occasions selects a particular less-preferred ambiguousword object 108 in the same context.

For instance, on a first occasion a plurality of ambiguous word objects108 may be output in response to a first ambiguous input, and a user mayselect a particular less-preferred ambiguous word object 108. In such acircumstance, the selected less-preferred ambiguous word object 108 andthe specific context are stored as an entry in a candidate data file.

If on a second occasion a plurality of ambiguous word objects 108 areoutput in response to a second ambiguous input, and if the user selectsa less-preferred ambiguous word object 108, the less-preferred ambiguousword object 108 and the context are compared with the various entries inthe candidate data file. If an entry is found in the candidate data filethat matches the less-preferred ambiguous word object 108 and thecontext of the second ambiguous input, the entry is moved from thecandidate data file to the contextual data table 49. The newly storedentry in the contextual data table 49 can thereafter be employed as setforth above.

It is noted however, that the candidate data file is a data buffer oflimited capacity. As additional entries are added to the candidate datafile, older entries which have not been moved to the contextual datatable 49 are deleted on a first-in-first-out basis. The limited size ofthe candidate data file thus adds to the contextual learning functionsomething of a frequency-of-use limitation. That is, depending uponusage, an entry in the candidate data file can either be moved to thecontextual data table 49 or can be removed from the candidate data fileto make room for additional entries. If the entry is moved to thecontextual data table 49, this would indicate that the user desired theparticular less-preferred ambiguous word object 108 in the particularcontext with sufficient frequency to warrant the saving thereof as validcontextual data. On the other hand, deletion of the candidate entry tomake room for additional candidate entries would indicate that thecandidate entry was not used with sufficient regularity or frequency towarrant its being saved as learned valid contextual data in thecontextual data table 49.

The selected less-preferred ambiguous word object 108 will be stored asa key object 47 in the contextual data table 49 if such a key object 47does not already exist. Additionally, a hash of the preceding-wordcontext is stored as a contextual value object 51 and is associated withthe aforementioned key object 47. In this regard, the preceding-wordcontext might simply be the immediately preceding word. It isunderstood, however, that the context potentially could be one wherein aparticular context word precedes by two, three, or more words theambiguous word object 108 for which the context is learned. Such contextadvantageously can be learned for word objects 108 in the new wordsdatabase 92 and in any other data source in the memory 20. It is alsounderstood that other types of contexts can be learned by thedisambiguation routine 22.

Moreover, learned contextual data can be unlearned. For instance, aparticular key object 47 and a corresponding particular contextual valueobject 51 may be added to the contextual data table 49 via theaforementioned learning function. At some point in the future the usermay begin in the particular context to prefer an output that hadpreviously been a default output, in favor of which a less-preferredambiguous word object 108 had been selected on two occasions and becamestored as context data. If this happens on two occasions, the previouslylearned particular key object 47 and corresponding particular contextualvalue object 51 are advantageously unlearned, i.e., are deleted from thecontextual data table 49. That is, the system operates as though thepreviously learned particular key object 47 and corresponding particularcontextual value object 51 were determined to not be valid contextualdata. This avoids the use of contextual data that is not desired or thatis considered to be invalid.

An improved handheld electronic device 1004 in accordance with anotherembodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept is depicted generally inFIG. 10. As a general matter, the handheld electronic device 1004 issubstantially identical in configuration and function to the handheldelectronic device 4, except that the handheld electronic device 1004employs a multiple-axis input device instead of or in addition to thethumbwheel 32. In the depicted exemplary embodiment, the multiple-axisinput device is a track ball 1032 as will be described below. It isnoted, however, that multiple-axis input devices other than the trackball 1032 can be employed without departing from the present concept.For instance, other appropriate multiple-axis input devices couldinclude mechanical devices such as joysticks and the like and/ornon-mechanical devices such as touch pads, track pads and the likeand/or other devices which detect motion or input in other fashions,such as through the use of optical sensors or piezoelectric crystals.

The handheld electronic device 1004 includes a housing 1006 upon whichis disposed a processor unit that includes an input apparatus 1008, anoutput apparatus 1012, a processor 1016, a memory 1020, and a number ofroutines 1022. All of the operations that can be performed on or withthe handheld electronic device 4 can be performed on or with thehandheld electronic device 1004. As such, the features of the handheldelectronic device 4 that are common with the handheld electronic device1004, and this would comprise essentially all of the features of thehandheld electronic device 4, will generally not be repeated.

The output apparatus 1012 includes a display 1060 that provides visualoutput. The exemplary output in FIG. 10 is a plurality of icons 1062that are selectable by the user for the purpose of, for example,initiating the execution on the processor 1016 of a routine 1022 that isrepresented by an icon 1062.

The input apparatus 1008 can be said to comprise a keypad 1024 and thetrack ball 1032, all of which serve as input members. The keypad 1024and the track ball 1032 are advantageously disposed adjacent oneanother. The keypad 1024 comprises a plurality of keys 1028 that areactuatable to provide input to the processor 1016. Many of the keys 1028have assigned thereto a plurality of linguistic elements in theexemplary form of Latin letters. Other keys 1028 can have assignedthereto functions and/or other characters.

For instance, one of the keys 1028 is an <ESCAPE> key 1031 which, whenactuated, provides to the processor 1016 an input that undoes the actionwhich resulted from the immediately preceding input and/or moves theuser to a logically higher position within the logical menu tree managedby a graphical user interface (GUI) routine 1022. The function providedby the <ESCAPE> key 1031 can be used at any logical location within anyportion of the logical menu tree except, perhaps, at a home screen suchas is depicted in FIG. 10. The <ESCAPE> key 1031 is advantageouslydisposed adjacent the track ball 1032 thereby enabling, for example, anunintended or incorrect input from the track ball 1032 to be quicklyundone, i.e., reversed, by an actuation of the adjacent <ESCAPE> key1031.

Another of the keys 1028 is a <MENU> key 1033 which, when actuated,provides to the processor 1016 an input that causes the GUI 1022 togenerate and output on the display 1060 a menu that is appropriate tothe user's current logical location within the logical menu tree. Forinstance, FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary menu 1035A that would beappropriate if the user's current logical location within the logicalmenu tree was viewing an email within an email routine 1022. That is,the menu 1035A provides selectable options that would be appropriate fora user given that the user is, for example, viewing an email within anemail routine 1022. In a similar fashion, FIG. 12 depicts anotherexemplary menu 1035B that would be depicted if the user's currentlogical location within the logical menu tree was within a telephoneroutine 1022.

The track ball 1032 is disposed on the housing 1006 and is freelyrotatable in all directions with respect to the housing 1006. A rotationof the track ball 1032 a predetermined rotational distance with respectto the housing 1006 provides an input to the processor 1016, and suchinputs can be employed by the routines 1022, for example, asnavigational inputs, scrolling inputs, selection inputs, and otherinputs.

For instance, the track ball 1032 is rotatable about a horizontal axis1034A to provide vertical scrolling, navigational, selection, or otherinputs. Similarly, the track ball 1032 is rotatable about a verticalaxis 1034B to provide horizontal scrolling, navigational, selection, orother inputs. Since the track ball 1032 is freely rotatable with respectto the housing 1006, the track ball 1032 is additionally rotatable aboutany other axis (not expressly depicted herein) that lies within theplane of the page of FIG. 10 or that extends out of the plane of thepage of FIG. 10.

The track ball 1032 can be said to be a multiple-axis input devicebecause it provides scrolling, navigational, selection, and other inputsin a plurality of directions or with respect to a plurality of axes,such as providing inputs in both the vertical and the horizontaldirections. It is reiterated that the track ball 1032 is merely one ofmany multiple-axis input devices that could be employed on the handheldelectronic device 1004. As such, mechanical alternatives to the trackball 1032, such as a joystick, might have a limited rotation withrespect to the housing 1006, and non-mechanical alternatives might beimmovable with respect to the housing 1006, yet all are capable ofproviding input in a plurality of directions or along a plurality ofaxes.

The track ball 1032 additionally is translatable toward the housing1006, i.e., into the plane of the page of FIG. 10, to provide additionalinputs. The track ball 1032 could be translated in such a fashion by,for example, a user applying an actuating force to the track ball 1032in a direction toward the housing 1006, such as by pressing on the trackball 1032. The inputs that are provided to the processor 1016 as aresult of a translation of the track ball 1032 in the indicated fashioncan be employed by the routines 1022, for example, as selection inputs,delimiter inputs, or other inputs.

The track ball 1032 is rotatable to provide, for example, navigationalinputs among the icons 1062. For example, FIG. 10 depicts the travel ofan indicator 1066 from the icon 1062A, as is indicated in broken lineswith the indicator 1066A, to the icon 1062B, as is indicated in brokenlines with the indicator 1066B, and onward to the icon 1062C, as isindicated by the indicator 1066C. It is understood that the indicators1066A, 1066B, and 1066C are not necessarily intended to besimultaneously depicted on the display 1060, but rather are intended totogether depict a series of situations and to indicate movement of theindicator 1066 among the icons 1062. The particular location of theindicator 1066 at any given time indicates to a user the particular icon1062, for example, that is the subject of a selection focus of thehandheld electronic device 1004. Whenever an icon 1062 or otherselectable object is the subject of the selection focus, a selectioninput to the processor 1016 will result in the routine 1022 or otherfunction represented by the icon 1062 or other selectable object to beexecuted or initiated.

The movement of the indicator 1066 from the icon 1062A, as indicatedwith the indicator 1066A, to the icon 1062B, as is indicated by theindicator 1066B, was accomplished by rotating the track ball 1032 aboutthe vertical axis 1034B to provide a horizontal navigational input. Asmentioned above, a rotation of the track ball 1032 a predeterminedrotational distance results in an input to the processor 1016. In thepresent example, the track ball 1032 would have been rotated about thevertical axis 1034B a rotational distance equal to three times thepredetermined rotational distance since the icon 1062B is disposed threeicons 1062 to the right of the icon 1062A. Such rotation of the trackball 1032 likely would have been made in a single motion by the user,but this need not necessarily be the case.

Similarly, the movement of the indicator 1066 from the icon 1062B, asindicated by the indicator 1066B, to the icon 1062C, as is indicated bythe indicator 1066C, was accomplished by the user rotating the trackball 1032 about the horizontal axis 1034A to provide a verticalnavigational input. In so doing, the track ball 1032 would have beenrotated a rotational distance equal to two times the predeterminedrotational distance since the icon 1062C is disposed two icons 1062below the icon 1062B. Such rotation of the track ball 1032 likely wouldhave been made in a single motion by the user, but this need notnecessarily be the case.

It thus can be seen that the track ball 1032 is rotatable in variousdirections to provide various navigational and other inputs to theprocessor 1016. Rotational inputs by the track ball 1032 typically areinterpreted by whichever routine 1022 is active on the handheldelectronic device 1004 as inputs that can be employed by such routine1022. For example, the GUI 1022 that is active on the handheldelectronic device 1004 in FIG. 10 requires vertical and horizontalnavigational inputs to move the indicator 1066, and thus the selectionfocus, among the icons 1062. If a user rotated the track ball 1032 aboutan axis oblique to the horizontal axis 1034A and the vertical axis1034B, the GUI 1022 likely would resolve such an oblique rotation of thetrack ball 1032 into vertical and horizontal components which could thenbe interpreted by the GUI 1022 as vertical and horizontal navigationalmovements, respectively. In such a situation, if one of the resolvedvertical and horizontal navigational movements is of a greater magnitudethan the other, the resolved navigational movement having the greatermagnitude would be employed by the GUI 1022 as a navigational input inthat direction to move the indicator 1066 and the selection focus, andthe other resolved navigational movement would be ignored by the GUI1022, for example.

When the indicator 1066 is disposed on the icon 1062C, as is indicatedby the indicator 1066C, the selection focus of the handheld electronicdevice 1004 is on the icon 1062C. As such, a translation of the trackball 1032 toward the housing 1006 as described above would provide aninput to the processor 1016 that would be interpreted by the GUI 1022 asa selection input with respect to the icon 1062C. In response to such aselection input, the processor 1016 would, for example, begin to executea routine 1022 that is represented by the icon 1062C. It thus can beunderstood that the track ball 1032 is rotatable to provide navigationaland other inputs in multiple directions, assuming that the routine 1022that is currently active on the handheld electronic device 1004 canemploy such navigational or other inputs in a plurality of directions,and can also be translated to provide a selection input or other input.

Rotational movement inputs from the track ball 1032 could be employed tonavigate among, for example, the menus 1035A and 1035B. For instance,after an actuation of the <MENU> key 1033 and an outputting by the GUI1022 of a resultant menu, the user could rotate the track ball 1032 toprovide scrolling inputs to successively highlight the variousselectable options within the menu. Once the desired selectable optionis highlighted, i.e., is the subject of the selection focus, the usercould translate the track ball 1032 toward the housing 1006 to provide aselection input as to the highlighted selectable option. In this regard,it is noted that the <MENU> key 1033 is advantageously disposed adjacentthe track ball 1032. This enables, for instance, the generation of amenu by an actuation of the <MENU> key 1033, conveniently followed by arotation of the track ball 1032 to highlight a desired selectableoption, for instance, followed by a translation of the track ball 1032toward the housing 1006 to provide a selection input to initiate theoperation represented by the highlighted selectable option.

It is further noted that one of the additional inputs that can beprovided by a translation of the track ball 1032 is an input that causesthe GUI 1022 to output a reduced menu. For instance, a translation ofthe track ball 1032 toward the housing 1006 could result in thegeneration and output of a more limited version of a menu than wouldhave been generated if the <MENU> key 1033 had instead been actuated.Such a reduced menu would therefore be appropriate to the user's currentlogical location within the logical menu tree and would provide thoseselectable options which the user would have a high likelihood ofselecting. Rotational movements of the track ball 1032 could providescrolling inputs to scroll among the selectable options within thereduced menu 1035C, and translation movements of the track ball 1032could provide selection inputs to initiate whatever function isrepresented by the selectable option within the reduce menu 1035C thatis currently highlighted.

By way of example, if instead of actuating the <MENU> key 1033 togenerate the menu 1035A, the user translated the track ball 1032, theGUI 1022 would generate and output on the display 1060 the reduced menu1035C that is depicted generally in FIG. 13. The exemplary reduced menu1035C provides as selectable options a number of the selectable optionsfrom the menu 1035A that the user would be most likely to select. Assuch, a user seeking to perform a relatively routine function could,instead of actuating the <MENU> key 1033 to display the full menu 1035A,translate the track ball 1032 to generate and output the reduced menu1035C. The user could then conveniently rotate the track ball 1032 toprovide scrolling inputs to highlight a desired selectable option, andcould then translate the track ball 1032 to provide a selection inputwhich would initiate the function represented by the selectable optionin the reduced menu 1035C that is currently highlighted.

In the present exemplary embodiment, many of the menus that could begenerated as a result of an actuation of the <MENU> key 1033 couldinstead be generated and output in reduced form as a reduced menu inresponse to a translation of the track ball 1032 toward the housing1006. It is noted, however, that a reduced menu might not be availablefor each full menu that could be generated from an actuation of the<MENU> key 1033. Depending upon the user's specific logical locationwithin the logical menu tree, a translation of the track ball 1032 mightbe interpreted as a selection input rather than an input seeking areduced menu. For instance, a translation of the track ball 1032 on thehome screen depicted in FIG. 10 would result in a selection input as towhichever of the icons 1062 is the subject of the input focus. If the<MENU> key 1033 was actuated on the home screen, the GUI 1022 wouldoutput a menu appropriate to the home screen, such as a full menu of allof the functions that are available on the handheld electronic device1004, including those that might not be represented by icons 1062 on thehome screen.

FIG. 14 depicts a quantity of text that is output on the display 1060,such as during a text entry operation or during a text editingoperation, for example. The indicator 1066 is depicted in FIG. 14 asbeing initially over the letter “L”, as is indicated with the indicator1066D, and having been moved horizontally to the letter “I”, as isindicated by the indicator 1066E, and thereafter vertically moved to theletter “W”, as is indicated by the indicator 1066F. In a fashion similarto that in FIG. 10, the indicator 1066 was moved among the letters “L”,“I”, and “W” through the use of horizontal and vertical navigationalinputs resulting from rotations of the track ball 1032. In the exampleof FIG. 14, however, each rotation of the track ball 1032 thepredetermined rotational distance would move the indicator 1066 to thenext adjacent letter. As such, in moving the indicator 1066 between theletters “L” and “I,” the user would have rotated the track ball 1032about the vertical axis 1034B a rotational distance equal to nine timesthe predetermined rotational distance, for example, since “I” isdisposed nine letters to the right of “L”.

FIG. 15 depicts an output 1064 on the display 1060 during, for example,a text entry operation that employs the disambiguation routine 1022. Theoutput 1064 can be said to comprise a text component 1068 and a variantcomponent 1072. The variant component 1072 comprises a default portion1076 and a variant portion 1080. FIG. 15 depicts the indicator 1066G onthe variant 1080 “HAV”, such as would result from a rotation of thetrack ball 1032 about the horizontal axis 1034A to provide a downwardvertical scrolling input. In this regard, it is understood that arotation of the track ball 1032 a distance equal to the predeterminedrotational distance would have moved the indicator 1066 from a position(not expressly depicted herein) disposed on the default portion 1076 tothe position disposed on the first variant 1080, as is depicted in FIG.15. Since such a rotation of the track ball 1032 resulted in the firstvariant 1080 “HAV” being highlighted with the indicator 1066G, the textcomponent 1068 likewise includes the text “HAV” immediately preceding acursor 1084A.

FIG. 16 depicts an alternative output 1064A having an alternativevariant component 1072A having a default portion 1076A and a variantportion 1080A. The variant component 1072A is horizontally arranged,meaning that the default portion 1076A and the variants 1080A aredisposed horizontally adjacent one another and can be sequentiallyselected by the user through the use of horizontal scrolling inputs,such as by the user rotating the track ball 1032 the predeterminedrotational distance about the vertical axis 1034B. This is to becontrasted with the variant component 1072 of FIG. 15 wherein thedefault portion 1076 and the variants 1080 are vertically arranged, andwhich can be sequentially selected by the user through the use ofvertical scrolling inputs with the track ball 1032.

In this regard, it can be understood that the track ball 1032 canprovide both the vertical scrolling inputs employed in conjunction withthe output 1064 as well as the horizontal scrolling inputs employed inconjunction with the output 1064A. For instance, the disambiguationroutine 1022 potentially could allow the user to customize the operationthereof by electing between the vertically arranged variant component1072 and the horizontally arranged variant component 1072A. The trackball 1032 can provide scrolling inputs in the vertical direction and/orthe horizontal direction, as needed, and thus is operable to provideappropriate scrolling inputs regardless of whether the user chooses thevariant component 1072 or the variant component 1072A. That is, thetrack ball 1032 can be rotated about the horizontal axis 1034A toprovide the vertical scrolling inputs employed in conjunction with thevariant component 1072, and also can be rotated about the vertical axis1034B to provide the horizontal scrolling inputs that are employed inconjunction with the variant component 1064A. The track ball 1032 thuscould provide appropriate navigational, scrolling, selection, and otherinputs depending upon the needs of the routine 1022 active at any timeon the handheld electronic device 1004. The track ball 1032 enables suchnavigational, scrolling, selection, and other inputs to be intuitivelygenerated by the user through rotations of the track ball 1032 indirections appropriate to the active routine 1022, such as might beindicated on the display 1060. Other examples will be apparent.

It can further be seen from FIG. 16 that the variant component 1072Aadditionally includes a value 1081 that is indicative of the languageinto which the disambiguation routine 1022 will interpret ambiguous textinput. In the example depicted in FIG. 16, the language is English.

As can be seen in FIG. 17, the value 1081 can be selected by the user tocause the displaying of a list 1083 of alternative values 1085. Thealternative values 1085 are indicative of selectable alternativelanguages into which the disambiguation routine 1022 can interpretambiguous input. A selection of the value 1081 would have been achieved,for example, by the user providing horizontal scrolling inputs with thetrack ball 1032 to cause (not expressly depicted herein) the indicator1066 to be disposed over the value 1081, and by thereafter translatingthe track ball 1032 toward the housing 1006 to provide a selectioninput.

The alternative values 1085 in the list 1083 are vertically arrangedwith respect to one another and with respect to the value 1081. As such,a vertical scrolling input with the track ball 1032 can result in avertical movement of the indicator 10661 to a position on one of thealternative values 1085 which, in the present example, is thealternative value 1085 “FR”, which is representative of the Frenchlanguage. The alternative value 1085 “FR” could become selected by theuser in any of a variety of fashions, such as by actuating the trackball 1032 again, by continuing to enter text, or in other fashions. Itthus can be understood from FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 that the track ball 1032can be rotated to provide horizontal scrolling inputs and, whenappropriate, to additionally provide vertical scrolling inputs and, whenappropriate, to additionally provide selection inputs, for example.

FIG. 18 depicts another exemplary output on the display 1060 such asmight be employed by a data entry routine 1022. The exemplary output ofFIG. 18 comprises a plurality of input fields 1087 with correspondingdescriptions. A cursor 1084D, when disposed within one of the inputfields 1087, indicates to the user that an input focus of the handheldelectronic device 1004 is on that input field 1087. That is, data suchas text, numbers, symbols, and the like, will be entered into whicheverinput field 1087 is active, i.e., is the subject of the input focus. Itis understood that the handheld electronic device 1004 might performother operations or take other actions depending upon which input field1087 is the subject of the input focus.

Navigational inputs from the track ball 1032 advantageously enable thecursor 1084D, and thus the input focus, to be switched, i.e., shifted,among the various input fields 1087. For example, the input fields 1087could include the input fields 1087A, 1087B, and 1087C. FIG. 18 depictsthe cursor 1084D as being disposed in the input field 1087C indicatingthat the input field 1087C is the subject of the input focus of thehandheld electronic device 1004. It is understood that the cursor 1084D,and thus the input focus, can be shifted from the input field 1087C tothe input field 1087A, which is disposed adjacent and vertically abovethe input field 1087C, by providing a vertical scrolling input in theupward direction with the track ball 1032. That is, the track ball 1032would be rotated the predetermined rotational distance about thehorizontal axis 1034A. Similarly, the cursor 1084D, and thus the inputfocus, can be shifted from the input field 1087A to the input field1087B, which is disposed adjacent and to the right of the input field1087A, by providing a horizontal scrolling input to the right with thetrack ball 1032. That is, such a horizontal scrolling input could beprovided by rotating the track ball 1032 the predetermined rotationaldistance about the vertical axis 1034B. It thus can be seen that thetrack ball 1032 is rotatable in a plurality of directions about aplurality of axes to provide navigational, scrolling, and other inputsin a plurality of directions among a plurality of input fields 1087.Other types of inputs and/or inputs in other applications will beapparent.

Since the keypad 1024 and the track ball 1032 are advantageouslydisposed adjacent one another, the user can operate the track ball 1032substantially without moving the user's hands away from the keypad 1024during a text entry operation or other operation. It thus can be seenthat the track ball 1032 combines the benefits of both the thumbwheel 32and the <NEXT> key 40. It is noted, however, that other embodiments ofthe handheld electronic device 1004 (not expressly depicted herein)could include both the track ball 1032 and a <NEXT> key such as the<NEXT> key 40 without departing from the present concept.

An improved handheld electronic device 2004 in accordance with stillanother embodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept is depictedgenerally in FIG. 19 and FIG. 20. The handheld electronic device 2004includes a housing 2006 upon which is disposed a processor unit thatincludes an input apparatus 2008, an output apparatus 2012, a processor2016, a memory 2020, and a number of routines 2022. All of theoperations that can be performed on or with the handheld electronicdevices 4 and/or 1004 can be performed on or with the handheldelectronic device 2004. As such, the features of the handheld electronicdevice 2004 that are common with the handheld electronic devices 4and/or 1004, and this would comprise essentially all of the features ofthe handheld electronic devices 4 and/or 1004, will generally not berepeated.

As a general matter, the handheld electronic device 2004 issubstantially identical in configuration and function to the handheldelectronic device 1004, except that the handheld electronic device 2004includes a touch screen display 2055 that provides a non-mechanicalmultiple-axis input device 2032 instead of the track ball 1032. Themultiple-axis input device 2032 can be said to be in the form of avirtual track ball 2032.

As is generally understood, the touch screen display 2055 includes aliquid crystal layer between a pair of substrates, with each substrateincluding an electrode. The electrodes form a grid which defines theaperture size of the pixels. When a charge is applied to the electrodes,the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer become alignedgenerally perpendicular to the two substrates. A display input/outputsubassembly 2053 of the output apparatus 2012 controls the location ofthe charge applied to the electrodes thereby enabling the formation ofimages on the touch screen display 2055.

Additionally, the touch screen display 2055 comprises a sensor assembly2057 which comprises an output device 2059 and a plurality of detectors2061. The detectors 2061 are shown schematically and are typically toosmall to be seen by the naked eye. Each detector 2061 is in electricalcommunication with the output device 2059 and creates an output signalwhen actuated. The detectors 2061 are disposed in a pattern, discussedbelow, and are structured to detect an external object immediatelyadjacent to, or touching, the touch screen display 2055. The externalobject is typically a stylus or a user's finger (not shown). The outputdevice 2059 and/or the processor 2016 are structured to receive thedetector signals and convert the signals to data representing thelocation of the external object relative to the touch screen display2055. As such, while the sensor assembly 2057 is physically a componentof the touch screen display 2055, it is nevertheless considered to be alogical component of the input apparatus 2008 since it provides input tothe processor apparatus.

The detectors 2061 are typically capacitive detectors, opticaldetectors, resistive detectors, or mechanical detectors such as straingauge or charged grid, although other technologies may be employedwithout departing from the present concept. Typically, capacitivedetectors are structured to detect a change in capacitance caused by theelectrical field of the external object or a change in capacitancecaused by the compression of the capacitive detector. Optical detectorsare structured to detect a reflection of light, e.g., light created bythe touch screen display 2055. Mechanical detectors include a chargedgrid with columns that would be disposed on one side of the touch screendisplay 2055 and a corresponding grid without columns would be disposedat another location on the touch screen display 2055. In such aconfiguration, when the touch screen display 2055 is compressed, i.e. asa result of being touched by the user, the columns at the area ofcompression contact the opposing grid thereby completing a circuit.

Capacitive detectors may be disposed upon either substrate and, althoughsmall, require space. Thus, any pixel that is disposed adjacent adetector 2061 will have a reduced size, or aperture, to accommodate theadjacent detector 2061.

The detectors 2061 are disposed in a pattern, and at least some of thedetectors 2061 preferably are arranged in lines that form a grid. Afirst portion of the detectors 2061 are disposed on a first area 2081 ofthe touch screen display 2055, and a second portion of the detectors2061 are disposed on a second area 2083 of the touch screen display2055. As can be seen from FIG. 19, the first area 2081 essentially isevery region of the touch screen display 2055 other than the second area2083.

The first portion of the detectors 2061 disposed on the first area 2081of the touch screen display 2055 are disposed in a relatively sparsepattern in order to minimize the visual interference that is caused bythe presence of the detectors 2061 adjacent the pixels. Preferably, thespacing of the detectors 2061 on the first area 2081 is between about1.0 mm and 10.0 mm between the detectors 2061, and more preferably about3.0 mm between the detectors 2061.

The second portion of the detectors 2061 are disposed in a relativelydense pattern on the second area 2083 of the touch screen display 2055and are structured to support the function of the virtual track ball2032. The image quality in the second area 2083 of the touch screendisplay 2055 is adversely affected due to the dense spacing of thedetectors 2061 there. However, the second area 2083 is a relativelysmall area compared to the entire touch screen display 2055. Preferably,the density of the detectors 2061 in the second area 2083 is betweenabout 0.05 mm and 3.0 mm between the detectors 2061, and more preferablyabout 0.1 mm between the detectors 2061. Further, because the pixels inthe second area 2083 are dedicated for the virtual track ball 2032, itis acceptable to have a reduced pixel density with larger pixels. Sincethe pixel size would be very large, the aspect ratio would besignificantly higher than that of pixels that are not disposed adjacenta detector 2061. The pixels in the second area 2083 likely would bespecial function pixels, such as pixels that would both depict thevirtual track ball 2032 and that would light up the second area 2083 tohighlight the virtual track ball 2032.

The processor apparatus is structured to create images and define theboundaries of selectable portions of the images on the touch screendisplay 2055. For example, the processor apparatus will create theimages of selectable icons or other objects on specific portions of thetouch screen display 2055. The processor apparatus is further structuredto relate specific detectors 2061 to the specific portions of the touchscreen display 2055. Thus, when the processor apparatus detects theactuation of a specific detector 2061 adjacent to a specific image, e.g.a selectable icon, the processor apparatus will initiate the function orroutine related to that icon, e.g. opening a calendar program.

Similarly, the processor apparatus is structured to employ specificdetectors 2061 to support the function of the virtual track ball 2032 inthe second area 2083 of the touch screen display 2055. Thus, actuationsof one or more of the detectors 2061 that support the virtual track ball2032 will be interpreted by the processor apparatus as being inputs fromthe virtual track ball 2032. For instance, an actuation of a sequentialplurality of detectors 2061 extending along a particular direction onthe touch screen display 2055 in the second area 2083 might beinterpreted as a navigational input, a scrolling input, a selectioninput, and/or another input in the particular direction. Since the usercan freely move a finger, for instance, in any direction on the touchscreen display 2055, the virtual track ball 2032 is a multiple-axisinput device. Other inputs, such as a non-moving actuation of one ormore detectors 2061 in the central region of the virtual track ball 2032could be interpreted by the processor apparatus as an actuation input ofthe virtual track ball 2032, such as would be generated by an actuationof the track ball 1032 of the handheld electronic device 1004 in adirection toward the housing 1006 thereof. It can be understood thatother types of actuations of the detectors 2061 in the second area 2083can be interpreted as various other inputs without departing from thedisclosed and claimed concept.

The handheld electronic device 2004 thus comprises a multiple-axis inputdevice 2032 that is non-mechanical but that still provides the samefunctional features and advantages as, say, the track ball 1032 of thehandheld electronic device 1004. It is understood that the virtual trackball 2032 is but one example of the many types of multiple-axis inputdevices that could be employed on the handheld electronic device 2004.

While specific embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept havebeen described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart that various modifications and alternatives to those details couldbe developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure.Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to beillustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the disclosed andclaimed concept which is to be given the full breadth of the claimsappended and any and all equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of enabling input into a handheldelectronic device that comprises a processor and a memory storing aplurality of language objects and contextual data, the methodcomprising: detecting a first language object as a first input;detecting as a second input an input that comprises one or more keyselections; outputting at least a portion of a particular languageobject and another language object as proposed interpretations of thesecond input, the at least a portion of the particular language objectbeing output at a position of preference with respect to the at least aportion of the another language object; detecting a selection of the atleast a portion of the another language object; and responsive to theselection of the at least a portion of the another language object,storing in a data file a key object based on the another language objectand an associated contextual value object based on the first languageobject, wherein the associated contextual value object is identifiedbased on the key object occurring at a statistically significantincidence with the another language object.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: identifying as the particular language object alanguage object of a length equal to that of the second input;identifying as the another language object a language object of a lengthequal to that of the second input; and responsive thereto, initiatingsaid storing.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting aninput from a touch screen display as the selection of the portion of theanother language object.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontextual value object is a representation of the first languageobject.
 5. The method of claim 4, the representation being a hash of thefirst language object.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data fileis the contextual data.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data fileis a candidate data file.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:receiving another input of the first language object; receiving anothersecond input that comprises another key selection, the another keyselection being the same as the one or more key selections; outputtingthe at least a portion of the another language object and the at least aportion of the particular language object as proposed interpretations ofthe another second input; receiving another selection of the at least aportion of the another language object; locating an entry in thecandidate data file comprising another contextual value object thatcorresponds with the first language object and that is associated with akey object that corresponds with the another language object; andresponsive to locating the entry, moving the another contextual valueobject and its associated key object from the candidate data file to thecontextual data, wherein the another contextual value object isidentified based on its associated key object occurring at a secondstatistically significant incidence with the another language object. 9.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving another input ofthe first language object; receiving another second input that comprisesanother key selection, the another key selection being the same as theone or more key selections; outputting the at least a portion of theanother language object and the at least a portion of the particularlanguage object as proposed interpretations of the another second input;receiving a selection of the at least a portion of the particularlanguage object; locating an entry in the data file comprising anothercontextual value object that corresponds with the first language objectand that is associated with a key object that corresponds with theanother language object; and removing the entry from the data file,wherein the another contextual value object is identified based on itsassociated key object occurring at a statistically insignificantincidence with the another language object.
 10. A handheld electronicdevice comprising: a processor and a memory storing a plurality oflanguage objects and contextual data and a number of routines which,when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to beconfigured to perform operations comprising: detecting a first languageobject as a first input; detecting as a second input an input thatcomprises one or more key selections; outputting at least a portion of aparticular language object and another language object as proposedinterpretations of the second input, the at least a portion of theparticular language object being output at a position of preference withrespect to the at least a portion of the another language object;detecting a selection of the at least a portion of the another languageobject; and responsive to the selection of the at least a portion of theanother language object, storing in a data file a key object based onthe another language object and an associated contextual value objectbased on the first language object, wherein the associated contextualvalue object is identified based on the key object occurring at astatistically significant incidence with the another language object.11. The device of claim 10, the operations further comprising:identifying as the particular language object a language object of alength equal to that of the second input; identifying as the anotherlanguage object a language object of a length equal to that of thesecond input; and responsive thereto, initiating said storing.
 12. Thedevice of claim 10, the operations further comprising detecting an inputfrom a touch screen display as the selection of the portion of theanother language object.
 13. The device of claim 10, wherein thecontextual value object is a representation of the first languageobject.
 14. The device of claim 13, the representation being a hash ofthe first language object.
 15. The device of claim 10, wherein the datafile is the contextual data.
 16. The device of claim 10, wherein thedata file is a candidate data file.
 17. The device of claim 16, theoperations further comprising: receiving another input of the firstlanguage object; receiving another second input that comprises anotherkey selection, the another key selection being the same as the one ormore key selections; outputting the at least a portion of the anotherlanguage object and the at least a portion of the particular languageobject as proposed interpretations of the another second input;receiving another selection of the at least a portion of the anotherlanguage object; locating an entry in the candidate data file comprisinganother contextual value object that corresponds with the first languageobject and that is associated with a key object that corresponds withthe another language object; and responsive to locating the entry,moving the another contextual value object and its associated key objectfrom the candidate data file to the contextual data, wherein the anothercontextual value object is identified based on its associated key objectoccurring at a second statistically significant incidence with theanother language object.
 18. The device of claim 10, the operationsfurther comprising: receiving another input of the first languageobject; receiving another second input that comprises another keyselection, the another key selection being the same as the one or morekey selections; outputting the at least a portion of the anotherlanguage object and the at least a portion of the particular languageobject as proposed interpretations of the another second input;receiving a selection of the at least a portion of the particularlanguage object; locating an entry in the data file comprising acontextual value object that corresponds with the first language objectand that is associated with a key object that corresponds with theanother language object; and removing the entry from the data file,wherein the another contextual value object is identified based on itsassociated key object occurring at a statistically insignificantincidence with the another language object.